54495Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 54495.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 28% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4251st of 6,210 ZIP areas measured46
Schools3472nd of 4,422 ZIP areas measured29
Growth4904th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured23
Housing affordabilityTop 20% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured95
Climate6520th of 6,789 ZIP areas measured54
Physical resilienceTop 29% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured75
Access6345th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured60
Economic stability4652nd of 6,742 ZIP areas measured49
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $49,798, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

In the public schools here, 19% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.0 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 14 units authorized over the past twelve months, 22% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
7,859
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$49,798
Bottom 15% nationally
Density
76/sq mi
104.0 sq mi of land
Median age
35.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Wisconsin Rapids
Wisconsin
Metro area
Wisconsin Rapids-Marshfield, WI
Nearest major airport
ATW
72 mi · Appleton Intl
Median home value
$139,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 78% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 34,437 employed residents.

Median household income of $49,798 is below 85% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,430$49,798Bottom 15%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,633$28,598Bottom 22%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.9%Top 19%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.4 minBottom 26%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher13.3%Bottom 20%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment34,437Bottom 35%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.5%Bottom 8%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 23%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force35,746Bottom 35%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation64.7%Top 34%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 34%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 22%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202450k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $49,798 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Wisconsin Rapids, WI, the city containing this ZIP code.

19% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 27% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
2
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
18.9%
Bottom 12% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
26.7%
Bottom 19% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Wisconsin Rapids Area MiddleWisconsin Rapids School District94314.317%27%
Mead ElementaryWisconsin Rapids School District2669.926%26%

53.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Wisconsin’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $834 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
20.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$834
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$139,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.79Bottom 40%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate56.2%Bottom 13%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2693,603Top 32%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$68$834Bottom 28%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,577$139,100Bottom 23%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.1%Top 34%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.1%Bottom 28%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
23/ 100
Ranks 4904 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
14
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.7
Bottom 20% nationally
Year over year
−22%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Wisconsin Rapids, WI, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 8°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.3 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WISCONSIN RAPIDS ALEXANDER FLD, 6.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation31.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low8°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing54°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

75 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail.

HailElevated
TornadoElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, heat wave, wildfire, ice storm, strong wind, landslide, earthquake, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Wood County records 2.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 21.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.6 per 100,000 residents in Wood County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
21.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Wood County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 54495 rather than 54495 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 72 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Appleton IntlATW72 mi8,003 ft
La Crosse RgnlLSE73 mi8,742 ft
Wittman RgnlOSH75 mi8,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
54
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

54495 vs Wisconsin Rapids

How this ZIP area compares with Wisconsin Rapids as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

54495
Wisconsin Rapids
Median household income
$49,798
vs
$55,253
Per capita income
$28,598
vs
$31,275
Population density
76/sq mi
vs
1,347/sq mi
Median home value
$139,100
vs
$131,900
Median gross rent
$834
vs
$888
Homeownership rate
56.2%
vs
56.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
13.3%
vs
18.1%
Poverty rate
19.9%
vs
14.8%
Median age
35.6
vs
38.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.